Scottish Executive

Arts

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is currently supporting the arts.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Scottish Executive's support for the arts in Scotland has increased significantly in recent years. In particular:

  funding for the Scottish Arts Council will increase by £1.95 million in 2004-05 and a further £1.3 million in 2005-06, taking the Scottish Arts Council's annual grant to a level of £40.196 million in 2005-06;

  an additional £3.5 million in 2004-05 and £4.0 million in 2005-06 will be provided for the National Theatre;

  an additional £2.5 million in 2003-04, £5.0 million in 2004-05, and £10 million in 2005-06 will ensure that each primary school pupil can receive a year's free music tuition.

  The strategic framework for the Executive's support of the arts is defined by the National Cultural Strategy. Implementation of this strategy, which was launched in 2000 with an announcement of an additional £27 million for the arts in Scotland over three years, is largely the responsibility of the Scottish Arts Council.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much, and what percentage, of money collected from tolls on the Erskine Bridge was diverted to matters not directly concerned with the management of the bridge in each of the last three years.

Nicol Stephen: Receipts from tolls collected at Erskine Bridge, along with expenditure related to the bridges, are included in the Executive's main transport programme. Latest expenditure is detailed in the Erskine Bridge accounts 2002-03 a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre, Bib. number 30370.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the operating costs of the Erskine Bridge were in each of the last three years.

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of collecting the Erskine Bridge tolls was in each of the last three years.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is detailed in the Erskine Bridge Accounts 2000-2001, 2001-02 and 2002-03, copies of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre, Bib. numbers 24147, 25778 and 30370 respectively.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs are payable annually to APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd for the collection of tolls at the Erskine Bridge and what percentage of tolls collected is received by the company as a fee.

Nicol Stephen: Costs vary year on year under the terms of the toll collection contract. Costs in the current year will be £555,594 excluding VAT. These costs represent an agreed management fee under contract and are not calculated as a percentage of tolls collected.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual costs are to its Development Department of monitoring the implementation of the Erskine Bridge Tolls Act 1968 and the Erskine Bridge Tolls Act 2001.

Nicol Stephen: Costs vary year on year. The estimated cost in 2002-03 was £34,719.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were paid to Amey Highways Ltd for the management and operation of the Erskine Bridge last year and what costs were paid to local authorities for maintenance and upkeep of those access roads to the bridge for which they are responsible.

Nicol Stephen: The total paid to Amey Highways for the management and maintenance of the Erskine Bridge in 2002-03 was £461,650. Funding for local roads and bridges forms part of the general Local Government Finance Settlement.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which companies received payments for the provision of services in relation to the Erskine Bridge in each of the last three years.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is as follows:

  Alliance & Leicester Building Society

  Amey Highways

  APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd

  Astron

  Audit Scotland

  C Spencer Ltd

  Data Controls

  David Smith (Fabricators) Ltd

  Fibaform

  Fortoak

  Parkburn Engineering

  Post Office

  The Stationery Office

  In addition, payments were made in 2000-01 to Clyde Local Authority Consortium.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what long-term expenditure is projected for maintenance of the Erskine Bridge.

Nicol Stephen: A £4 million strengthening and upgrading programme commenced in 2002 and is expected to be completed in 2005. In addition to routine maintenance works, long term expenditure plans are set in the light of regular inspections of the bridge. Such work is likely to include repainting, resurfacing and structural works but it is not currently possible to estimate the timing or costs of such works.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it estimates that total expenditure on maintenance of the Erskine Bridge will total more that £1.1 billion over the next 90 years.

Nicol Stephen: The need for maintenance is identified from inspections. This enables maintenance to be planned on a rational basis. Most major maintenance does not follow a fixed cycle and it is therefore not possible to predict accurately the maintenance costs over a 90 year period.

Bridges

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have been undertaken to examine the impact of the elimination of Erskine Bridge tolls on congestion on other Clyde crossings.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive has not conducted any studies into the potential impact of removing tolls at Erskine.

Cancer

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to ensure that woman are offered breast cancer screening at the age of 50.

Malcolm Chisholm: There is a national computerised call-recall system in place which ensures that eligible women, who are registered with a general practitioner and are in the age range 50-64 years are invited for breast screening every three years. Eligible women are invited for screening on a general practice basis once every three years. Therefore women will be invited for their first screen before their 53rd birthday. The upper age range for routine invitation is being extended to 70 years on a phased basis across Scotland from spring 2003.

  The Breast Screening Programme has developed effective arrangements to invite known eligible women who are not registered with a general practitioner. Procedures are also in place for identifying and following up women who do not attend for screening.

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have applied for any of its funds for carers, including those for short breaks.

Mr Tom McCabe: Resources to support carers, including resources to develop respite services, are made available to councils as part of local government finance settlements for the overall provision of community care. I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4264 on 5 December 2003 ,  which sets out the resources made available to individual authorities under our Carers Strategy. In addition, £22 million has been made available to local authorities, over the last three years, specifically to expand and develop respite services. The additional respite resources were provided to local authorities in the same way and using the same standardised distribution formula. Information on local authorities' expenditure on respite, and other services to support carers, is now being collected centrally. Figures for 2002-03 will be available shortly.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crime

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle business crime.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive is supporting the Scottish Business Crime Centre which has been established to develop business crime reduction and prevention strategies in Scotland.

  We launched the Safe City Centres Initiative in November 2003, in partnership with the local authorities and the Scottish Business Crime Centre. The initiative will run for three years in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling and Perth and the aim is to reduce the incidence and cost of business crime and to provide a safe and secure environment for staff and customers alike within the city centres. Consideration is currently being given to how the concept might be rolled out to other towns in Scotland.

Crofting

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to promote the aims of the Livestock Improvement Scheme for crofting townships.

Allan Wilson: Day to day management and promotion of the Livestock Improvement Schemes is a matter for the Crofters Commission.

Drug Enforcement Agency

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to appoint a new head of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.

Cathy Jamieson: The appointment of Mr Graeme Pearson as the new Director of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency was announced on Friday 6 February.

Food Safety

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider postponing any final decisions on the forthcoming regulations on permissible maximum dosage levels for food supplements listed in the Food Supplements (Scotland) Regulations 2003 until the completion of the National Association of Health Stores' judicial review into the science underpinning the EU Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC.

Mr Tom McCabe: I have been advised by the Food Standards Agency that the implementation in Scotland of European legislation on maximum permitted levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements will take place within the time laid down in the legislation once it is agreed. The agency do not expect the Commission's proposal on maximum levels for another two to three years.

Fuel

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent steps it has taken regarding the high cost of fuel paid by rural drivers.

Tavish Scott: This is a reserved matter. However, the Executive appreciates that the high cost of fuel in rural areas is a concern to many people. The Executive is, therefore, spending substantial sums on transport through its Rural Transport Fund to reduce the impact on rural communities.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been made to the Medicines Control Agency regarding access to medicines through the internet.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA – formerly the Medicines Control Agency) is responsible for enforcing the Medicines Act 1968 and related legislation which regulate the sale and supply of medicines. The agency shares public concerns about the apparent increasing availability of medicines, particularly prescription only medicines, via the Internet and by mail order. The MHRA does not routinely monitor internet pharmacies. However, its enforcement group investigates any allegations of illegal activity of which it is made aware.

Health

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical laboratory scientific officers (biomedical scientists) are employed by each NHS board, broken down by grade.

Malcolm Chisholm: Centrally held information on medical laboratory scientific officers (MLSOs) does not allow the explicit identification of biomedical scientists. The following figures show the most recent available information (as at September 2002) for MLSOs by NHS board and grade.

  Table 1a: Headcount of Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers by Grade and NHS Board at 30 Sept 2002 2.

  


 


Grade



NHS Boards

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Assistant

Trainee

Other1



Scotland

3,172

1077

593

281

151

27

40

9

7

833

151

3



Argyll and Clyde

209

72

40

17

7

-

-

-

-

64

9

-



Ayrshire and Arran

168

43

32

12

6

-

-

-

-

73

2

-



Borders

40

17

7

4

1

-

-

-

-

9

2

-



Dumfries and Galloway

72

29

17

4

-

-

-

-

-

17

5

-



Fife

89

39

15

10

3

-

-

-

-

19

3

-



Forth Valley

135

55

18

6

4

-

-

-

-

45

7

-



Grampian

219

70

35

21

4

-

-

-

-

77

12

-



Greater Glasgow

702

251

129

82

22

-

-

-

-

176

42

-



Highland

104

33

21

8

7

-

-

-

-

33

2

-



Lanarkshire

245

100

45

18

4

-

-

-

-

71

7

-



Lothian

419

171

83

38

14

-

-

-

-

87

26

-



Orkney

5

-

1

1

1

-

-

-

-

2

-

-



Shetland

5

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

2

-

-



Tayside

223

89

32

18

7

-

-

-

-

66

11

-



Western Isles

6

1

3

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-



Common Services Agency

528

107

115

38

71

27

40

9

7

91

23

-



Golden Jubilee National Hospital1

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll ISD Scotland.

  Notes:

  1. Golden Jubilee National Hospital was unable to provide a grade breakdown.

  2. Includes qualified and unqualified medical laboratory scientific officers.

  Table 1b: WTE of Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers by Grade and NHS Board at 30 Sept 20022,3,4

  


 
 

Grade



NHS Boards

Total

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Assistant

Trainee

Other



Scotland

2800.0

950.5

564.9

277.2

148.9

25.8

37.7

9.0

7.0

626.0

150.0

3.0



Argyll and Clyde

176.9

64.0

37.5

17.0

7.0

-

-

-

-

42.4

9.0
 



Ayrshire and Arran

134.2

38.7

28.7

12.0

6.0

-

-

-

-

46.9

2.0
 



Borders

35.2

14.5

7.0

4.0

1.0

-

-

-

-

6.7

2.0
 



Dumfries and Galloway

63.4

23.2

17.0

4.0

-

-

-

-

-

14.2

5.0
 



Fife

81.8

35.8

14.0

10.0

3.0

-

-

-

-

16.0

3.0
 



Forth Valley

106.2

46.0

16.7

6.0

4.0

-

-

-

-

26.5

7.0
 



Grampian

183.3

59.6

32.9

21.0

4.0

-

-

-

-

54.3

11.5
 



Greater Glasgow

621.6

221.4

122.2

81.0

22.0

-

-

-

-

133.0

42.0
 



Highland

92.9

32.6

20.3

8.0

7.0

-

-

-

-

23.0

2.0
 



Lanarkshire

210.9

86.6

43.4

17.5

4.0

-

-

-

-

52.4

7.0
 



Lothian

385.7

153.9

80.1

37.1

14.0

-

-

-

-

75.2

25.5
 



Orkney

4.8

-

1.0

1.0

1.0

-

-

-

-

1.8

-
 



Shetland

5.0

-

-

3.0

-

-

-

-

-

2.0

-
 



Tayside

188.9

77.6

30.7

17.5

7.0

-

-

-

-

45.1

11.0
 



Western Isles

6.0

1.0

3.0

1.0

-

-

-

-

-

1.0

-
 



Common Services Agency

500.3

95.8

110.5

37.1

68.9

25.8

37.7

9.0

7.0

85.5

23.0
 



Golden Jubilee National Hospital1

3.0

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3.0 



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll ISD Scotland.

  Notes:

  1. Golden Jubilee National Hospital was unable to provide a grade breakdown.

  2. Includes qualified and unqualified medical laboratory scientific officers.

  4. Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) is calculated by dividing the contracted hours by the conditioned (normal) hours for the group of staff.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why fewer NHS beds were available to deal with winter pressures in Greater Glasgow in 2003 than in the previous year.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Greater Glasgow, along with all other NHS boards, makes additional beds available each winter to deal with anticipated seasonal pressures. I understand there are no fewer beds available in NHS Greater Glasgow than were available this time last year. In addition, there are more clinical staff working within Glasgow's hospitals now than there were a year ago, as a result of investment from various national initiatives, such as cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease.

Health

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase prescription and other health service charges.

Malcolm Chisholm: We shall lay before the Parliament regulations to increase prescription and other National Health Service charges in Scotland from 1 April 2004. There will be a cash increase in the prescription charge of 10p (1.59%) from £6.30 to £6.40 for each quantity of a drug or appliance dispensed.

  The cost of a prescription pre-payment certificate will rise to £33.40 for a four month certificate and £91.80 for an annual certificate. These offer savings for people needing more than five items in four months or 14 items in one year.

  Prescription charges are expected to raise some £47.4 million for NHSScotland in 2003-04.

  Charges for elastic stockings and tights, wigs and most fabric supports supplied through the Hospital Service will be increased similarly.

  The maximum patient charge for a single course of dental treatment begun on or after 1 April 2004 will increase from £372 to £378.

  We have restricted the prescription charge increase to the same cash amount as the previous five years and the other increases are in line with this percentage increase.

  The majority of optical voucher values will increase by 2.5%. Voucher values for people with high prescriptions, for whom the cost is greater, will increase by 10%. These increases will help children, people on low income and certain people with complex sight problems with the cost of spectacles or contact lenses.

  NHS charges and optical voucher values in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for those administrations.

Historic Scotland

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a report on the review of the structure and functions of Historic Scotland.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Scottish Executive has today issued the report of the review of the structure and functions of Historic Scotland. The review report includes 20 recommendations in total. Notably, the review has concluded that all of the functions currently delivered by Historic Scotland are required and recommends that they should be delivered by a single central organisation. The review has recommended that Historic Scotland should remain as an Executive Agency within the Scottish Executive Education Department. The review has identified a clear need for cultural change within the organisation. As part of this process independent external members should be appointed to Historic Scotland's management board. The review has also recommended changes to the process for dealing with public local inquiries in relation to listed buildings and scheduled monument consent applications; making the secretariat for the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland (HEACS) independent of Historic Scotland and identified areas for further engagement with stakeholders, including through the development of an overarching policy statement.

  I have accepted all of the review recommendations and work is in hand to implement many of the necessary changes. Specifically, I have directed the Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to begin work on an organisational change programme to deliver the cultural changes identified through the review process. To facilitate the development of an overarching policy statement I am today publishing a paper outlining the key principles which will underpin such policy statement to form the basis of discussions with stakeholders (Bib. number 30997).

  Copies of the report will be available on the Scottish Executive website and copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 30679). Copies of the Analysis of Responses to "Review of Historic Scotland" consultation process are also available (Bib. number 30680).

Housing

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Tenements (Scotland) Bill will benefit homeowners.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The overall effect of the bill will be that every tenement in Scotland will have a management scheme. This will make it easier for owners to take decisions on repairs and on other matters of mutual interest and concern. Majority decision making will become the norm and I hope that this will lead to many outstanding repairs being carried out. Under the existing common law all owners must consent before repairs can be carried out and unanimity can often be difficult to achieve.

Information Technology

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5535 by Peter Peacock on 27 January 2004, which primary and secondary schools (a) are and (b) are not broadband-enabled, broken down by local authority area.

Peter Peacock: The ICT Survey of schools, from which the figures in the answer to S2W-5535 on 27 january 2004 were derived, was undertaken on the basis of a statistical sample only and did not provide detailed figures on a school-by-school or authority-by-authority basis.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Local Government

Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on its commitment to setting up an improvement service for local government.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive, COSLA and SOLACE have entered into a partnership to deliver this new improvement service for local government. A shadow board representing the partners is now in place and met twice, once in November and again in January 2004. We have agreed a business framework with a vision for the improvement service to support, promote and assist in the delivery of excellent public services through learning, sharing and delivering improvement solutions. The improvement service is now recruiting for a chief executive to lead this new dynamic organisation.

Planning

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that the interests of objectors in the planning system are taken account of in its preparations for consulting on rights of appeal in planning.

Ms Margaret Curran: We receive regular correspondence on the issue and views previously expressed to the Executive have been taken into account as work on the forthcoming consultation has progressed.

  We set up a stakeholder group to assist us in identifying the issues to be covered in our consultation paper. The group is made up of people from local authorities, industry bodies, trade unions, community and environmental groups, and other planning experts. Several members on the group have experience of raising objections on planning matters and have shared their views and experiences within the group.

Poverty

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5323 on 27 January 2004 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the population of each deprivation quintile, based on the Carstairs index of deprivation, was in each NHS board area, expressed as a percentage of total board area population, in the 1991 Census.

Malcolm Chisholm: Populations for each deprivation quintile based on the Carstairs Index of Deprivation relating to 1991 are provided in the following table.

  Census populations by Carstairs Deprivation Quintile and Health Board

  Carstairs Deprivation Quintiles : Population

  


Health Board

1-Least Deprived

2

3

4

5-Most Deprived

Total



Ayrshire and Arran

55,132

51,019

99,351

97,764

68,697

371,963



Borders

26,369

50,082

20,090

6,756

0

103,297



Argyll and Clyde

72,280

66,985

62,064

117,470

110,628

429,427



Fife

51,829

65,058

139,303

69,710

12,235

338,135



Greater Glasgow

148,621

76,120

86,822

117,566

467,925

897,054



Highland

25,587

81,951

74,770

19,328

1,533

203,169



Lanarkshire

19,957

117,027

96,185

147,794

171,348

552,311



Grampian

230,862

101,940

99,392

59,350

11,549

503,093



Orkney

0

19,608

0

0

0

19,608



Lothian

176,852

140,152

141,919

217,117

50,531

726,571



Tayside

102,374

92,376

62,909

49,789

75,575

383,023



Forth Valley

61,537

50,545

92,361

53,714

12,715

270,872



Western Isles

0

13,159

10,941

380

5,113

29,593



Dumfries and Galloway

28,830

68,093

19,734

30,964

0

147,621



Shetland

511

13,499

8,509

0

0

22,519



Scotland

1,000,741

1,007,614

1,014,350

987,702

987,849

4,998,256



  Source: GRO Scotland, national census data.

  Census populations by Carstairs Deprivation Quintile and Health Board

  Carstairs Deprivation Quintiles: % Population

  


Health Board

1-Least Deprived

2

3

4

5-Most Deprived

Total



Ayrshire and Arran

14.8%

13.7%

26.7%

26.3%

18.5%

100.0%



Borders

25.5%

48.5%

19.4%

6.5%

0.0%

100.0%



Argyll and Clyde

16.8%

15.6%

14.5%

27.4%

25.8%

100.0%



Fife

15.3%

19.2%

41.2%

20.6%

3.6%

100.0%



Greater Glasgow

16.6%

8.5%

9.7%

13.1%

52.2%

100.0%



Highland

12.6%

40.3%

36.8%

9.5%

0.8%

100.0%



Lanarkshire

3.6%

21.2%

17.4%

26.8%

31.0%

100.0%



Grampian

45.9%

20.3%

19.8%

11.8%

2.3%

100.0%



Orkney

0.0%

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

100.0%



Lothian

24.3%

19.3%

19.5%

29.9%

7.0%

100.0%



Tayside

26.7%

24.1%

16.4%

13.0%

19.7%

100.0%



Forth Valley

22.7%

18.7%

34.1%

19.8%

4.7%

100.0%



Western Isles

0.0%

44.5%

37.0%

1.3%

17.3%

100.0%



Dumfries and Galloway

19.5%

46.1%

13.4%

21.0%

0.0%

100.0%



Shetland

2.3%

59.9%

37.8%

0.0%

0.0%

100.0%



Scotland

20.0%

20.2%

20.3%

19.8%

19.8%

100.0%



  Source: GRO Scotland, national census data.

Public Sector

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-4961 and S2W-4962 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 January 2004, whether it can form companies for other purposes and, if not, what statutory impediment prevents it from doing so.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive may form companies where appropriate powers exist. All decisions or actions, including the formation of companies, by a public sector body must be within the powers ( intra vires ) of that body. Depending on the type of public body, the powers will be set out in one or more of the following: statute, statutory instruments, trading fund orders, company memorandum and articles of association, trust deeds etc; and powers may also exist in common law. If a public sector body acts outside the scope of its powers ( ultra vires ) then that decision or action is invalid and is unauthorised by law.

Public Transport

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated for public transport in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) region and expressed also on a per capita basis.

Nicol Stephen: Funding for public transport purposes in Scotland is not allocated on a regional basis. The following table shows the total funding committed by the Scottish Executive for 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 to each local authority under the Public Transport Fund (including separate allocations for cycling, walking and safer streets projects), the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport Fund, the Integrated Transport Fund, piers and harbours grants and the appropriate GAE revenue grant allocations.

  


Local Authority

Population

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03



Total Funding (£ m)

Cost per Capita (£)

Total Funding (£ m)

Cost per Capita (£)

Total Funding (£ m)

Cost per Capita (£)



Aberdeen City

211,910

5.299

25.01

5.887

27.78

7.789

36.76



Aberdeenshire

226,940

3.837

16.91

4.679

20.62

5.633

24.82



Angus

108,370

1.596

14.73

2.150

19.84

3.514

32.43



Argyll and Bute

91,300

4.985

54.60

4.260

46.66

5.851

64.09



Clackmannanshire

48,070

0.605

12.60

3.601

74.91

4.936

102.69



Dumfries and Galloway

147,780

2.609

17.66

5.136

34.75

6.741

45.62



Dundee City

145,460

3.202

22.02

4.558

31.34

7.235

49.74



East Ayrshire

120,310

2.465

20.49

2.883

23.96

4.682

38.91



East Dunbartonshire

108,250

1.701

15.71

2.375

21.94

3.289

30.38



East Lothian

90,180

1.566

17.36

2.072

22.97

2.820

31.27



East Renfrewshire

89,410

1.838

20.55

2.236

25.00

2.540

28.41



Edinburgh City

449,020

9.167

20.41

15.225

33.91

18.455

41.10



Eilean Siar

26,450

3.209

121.32

2.797

105.76

3.857

145.82



Falkirk

145,270

2.128

14.65

4.106

28.26

4.606

31.71



Fife

349,770

4.914

14.05

7.751

22.16

12.061

34.48



Glasgow City

578,710

12.760

22.05

16.292

28.15

21.385

36.95



Highland

208,920

3.730

17.85

6.993

33.47

9.467

45.32



Inverclyde

84,150

1.354

16.09

1.846

21.94

3.912

46.49



Midlothian

80,950

1.783

22.02

1.327

16.39

2.977

36.78



Moray

87,000

1.147

13.19

1.563

17.96

2.298

26.42



North Ayrshire

135,820

2.179

16.05

3.081

22.68

4.049

29.81



North Lanarkshire

321,180

6.082

18.94

6.207

19.33

8.789

27.37



Orkney Islands

19,220

4.277

222.53

9.067

471.73

14.524

755.66



Perth and Kinross

134,950

2.450

18.15

3.935

29.16

4.829

35.78



Renfrewshire

172,850

3.341

19.33

3.749

21.69

4.945

28.61



Scottish Borders

106,950

1.603

14.99

3.191

29.84

4.211

39.38



Shetland Islands

21,960

5.593

254.67

6.253

284.72

6.300

286.90



South Ayrshire

112,160

2.631

23.46

4.358

38.86

5.334

47.56



South Lanarkshire

302,340

4.653

15.39

6.312

20.88

9.038

29.89



Stirling

86,200

1.250

14.50

1.779

20.64

4.741

55.00



West Dunbartonshire

93,320

1.764

18.90

2.135

22.88

2.779

29.78



West Lothian

159,030

1.629

10.25

2.380

14.97

5.253

33.03



Scotland

5,064,200

107.35

21.20

150.18

29.66

208.84

41.24



  Notes:

  1. Population figures: Mid-year estimates, GRO(S) 2001.

  2. Piers and harbours grants are allocated on a project basis and not on a year by year basis. The figures included therefore reflect expenditure as claimed by the relevant authorities.

  In addition, funding has also been given to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) from the Public Transport Fund, the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport Fund, and the Integrated Transport Fund as follows:

  


SPTA

2,160,590

3.376

1.56

1.029

0.48

2.247

1.04

Rail Services

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the target to ensure that rail passengers do not have to stand for more than ten minutes during their journey, announced on 17 December 2002, will be met.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that there is a consistent standard to address overcrowding across Scotrail's services.

  Under the current franchise, the operator is required to meet obligations relating to managing overcrowding. These obligations have been set by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE) in its area and by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in the rest of the country.

  In the SPTE area, the operator is required to plan its services to ensure that no-one should have to stand for more than 10 minutes. The SRA monitors overcrowding on the busiest services in the rest of the country. On these services, the operator is required to plan to ensure that no-one should have to stand for more than 20 minutes.

  An obligation to plan to meet a maximum 10-minute standing target will be introduced through the next franchise for all Scotrail services.

Rail Services

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the regulations are in respect of passenger capacity on trains and, if there are no such regulations, whether it intends to introduce them.

Nicol Stephen: Under the current franchise, the operator is required to meet obligations relating to managing overcrowding. These obligations have been set by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive (SPTE) in its area and by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in the rest of the country.

  In the SPTE area, the operator is required to plan its services to ensure that no-one should have to stand for more than 10 minutes. The SRA monitors overcrowding on the busiest services in the rest of the country. On these services, the operator is required to plan to ensure that no-one should have to stand for more than 20 minutes.

  The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that there is a consistent standard to address overcrowding across Scotrail's services. An obligation to plan to meet a maximum 10-minute standing target will therefore be introduced through the next franchise for all Scotrail services.

Regional Selective Assistance

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the terms were of the agreement reached with Hoover to secure the retention of research and development and manufacturing at its Cambuslang plant; whether funds from the Executive or Scottish Development International were allocated to Hoover as part of the agreement, and whether the company was granted any other concessions.

Mr Jim Wallace: Hoover was not offered any new regional selective assistance (RSA) in relation to the retention of research and development and manufacture at its Cambuslang facility. However the terms of the existing RSA offer of £1.7 million, which had been paid in full, have been amended so that Hoover must satisfy the following conditions to retain the RSA paid:

  £1.7 million will remain repayable until 30 June 2005 during which time the company must retain 150 jobs, of which 60 must be production and 30 R,D&D. Thereafter, £700,000 will continue to be repayable until 30 June 2006 during which time 90 jobs must be retained with 30 of these being R,D&D. A final £250,000 will remain repayable until 31 October 2007 and during this time at least 60 jobs must be retained. If this is achieved, then under the revised agreement, Hoover will have satisfied its obligations in respect of the RSA previously paid.

  In addition, Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire will contribute up to 20% of eligible costs for the sub-division of the facility up to a maximum of £250,000.

Research

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Proof of Concept awards have been distributed; how much funding was allocated in each distribution round, and how many institutions or organisations received one or more awards in each year since 1999, broken down by institution and organisation level.

Lewis Macdonald: Proof of Concept Funding is provided through Scottish Enterprise and the allocation of awards and funding is an operational matter for them. Information detailing the number of projects and amounts awarded is available on Scottish Enterprise's web site at:

  http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/sig/academics/proofofconceptfund.htm.

Salmon Farming

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what effect Norwegian ownership of Scottish salmon farms has on possible co-operation between Scotland and Norway in securing a long-term future for Scotland's aquaculture sector.

Allan Wilson: Norwegian ownership of Scottish salmon farms has not been a factor concerning possible future co-operation between Scotland and Norway in securing a long-term future for Scotland's aquaculture sector.

  Although the corporate centres of the multi-national companies may lie overseas, the fact is they have a good track record in Scotland of investing in jobs, new technology and growing their businesses.

Student Finance

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1571 by Mr Jim Wallace on 13 August 2003, whether the survey of income and expenditure of Scottish students will investigate graduate debt.

Mr Jim Wallace: The survey will focus primarily on the income and expenditure which students have while studying. It will also collate the anticipated average debt on graduation and the extent to which that debt relates to student loans or borrowings from commercial sources.

Student Loans

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deferral applications the Student Loans Company has received in each year of its operation, stating what percentage this represents of all students due to being repayment that year.

Mr Jim Wallace: The following table is a snapshot as at the commencement of the financial year indicated showing the percentage of borrowers in repayment against projections for that year.

  


Start of Financial Year

Volume in Deferment 
(to nearest 1000)

Approximate % deferred against projected numbers in repayment



1993

 23,000

42.6%



1994

 61,000

42.0%



1995

122,000

44.4%



1996

207,000

47.3%



1997

313,000

49.2%



1998

361,000

42.3%



1999

452,000

45.2%



2000

552,000

46.4%



2001

577,000

45.7%



2002

596,000

48.0%



2003

565,000

43.7%



  Source: Student Loans Company.

Student Loans

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many default notices the Student Loans Company has issued in each year of its operation, stating what percentage this represents of all students due to make repayments that year.

Mr Jim Wallace: Information on individual student loan accounts is held by the Student Loans Company. The analysis requested could only be obtained by examining the loan accounts of each individual borrower who had been in default. The company advises that such an exercise could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost.

Transport

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve the enforcement of bus regulation by traffic commissioners.

Tavish Scott: Officials are in regular contact with the Traffic Commissioner for the Scottish Traffic Area, in particular about issues relating to the registration of local bus services as such issues are devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Transport

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the City of Edinburgh Council's consultation process on congestion charging is adequate.

Tavish Scott: The Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 and associated regulations provide a statutory framework for consultation that a charging authority must follow.

  The act also provides that a charging scheme will not come into force until the order making it has been submitted to and confirmed by Scottish ministers. Due to that role, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.

Water Charges

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost to charities is of the withdrawal of relief on water and wastewater charges for 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Allan Wilson: The impact on charities of the withdrawal of relief needs to be considered in conjunction with the exemption scheme for charities which meet certain eligibility criteria. The detail of this is an operational matter for Scottish Water.

Water Charges

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost to Scottish Water is for 2002-03 and 2003-04 of non-standard tariff agreements that do not appear on the scheme of charges.

Allan Wilson: This is an operational matter for Scottish Water.

Wildlife

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will continue with the hedgehog cull in the Western Isles this year.

Allan Wilson: The decision to continue with the hedgehog cull in the Western Isles lies with Scottish Natural Heritage as the relevant licensing authority.

  The Scottish Executive is of the view that SNH's proposals, which include a continued programme of lethal control (and support for a scientifically rigorous trial), represent the most effective approach.